If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Defiant - Martin Concept Model

Hi All, I've been on SciFi-meshes off and on for something like 15 years (I'm not sure as my membership predates the great crash of 2006). But I shelved modelling for several years as general life got in the way. At any rate, I've gotten interested in it again recently and have been pleasantly surprised by the advancements since then in my software of choice, Blender. I guess you could say I'm a slow learner, but have enjoyed delving back into the forum and look forward to picking up more.

For a long, long time I've wanted to take a shot at one of Jim Martin's concept drawings for the USS Defiant. I like the Defiant we got on DS9, but love the aggressiveness of one of his almost-but-not-quite-finished sketches (seen about 2/3 down this page).

I've currently started on some of the major forms, with three components at the moment. I think for next steps I'll work on some of the details that don't involve messing with the main forms, like the bussard collectors and some weapons components, before returning to the main mesh for some geometry cleanup. Then hopefully I'll start working on some more detailing there. I'm taking it a little slow as I'm hoping to take this one further and more detailed than I have before.

Welcome back. Yeah, Blender has come a really long way over the past few years. It's a robust program with a lot to offer. There's not too much it can't do that the professional software can. The biggest hurdle most people have is the interface, which really isn't all that bad, in my opinion.

Great start on the ship. I like this concept, it reminds me a lot of a 24th century Romulan Bird of Prey, but Starfleet style.

By the way, if you reorder your modifiers, put the mirror modifier in the stack above the subdivision surface one, you won't get that weird thing going on along the spine. Just a little tip.

Thanks EG! The mirror modifier is above the subsurf; the error is even worse if I move it below. Thanks for the heads up on that effect though, I could just picture putting them in the wrong order in the future and not realizing what's going on. At any rate, that crease is definitely on my to-fix list.

A few tweaks tonight, a little detailing around the bridge and experimentation with the bussards. I like the idea that the ovals seen in the sketch might be physical shielding in front of the collectors. I need to think through how it all comes together back there though.

Not sure how you've set your model up, but if the modifier stack order isn't the solution it's likely that you have faces on the inside of the model, running down the centre line, that need deleting. If that's not it either, then I have no idea.

Loving the mesh. It is a neat concept design, and it will be fun to see what you do to actualize it. What you have looks clean.

Im a very expjeriencdd Blender user myself, and I STILL get that same problem when i try to mirror. I snap the mesh down, clean it every way I can think of, and still i get that melt point issue. I keep meaning to do a search and figure it out, but i have just gotten in the habit of transferring changes across the axix manually. If you figure it out, please post your solution in your thread!

"Of course the Neverlands vary a great deal. John's, for instance, had a lagoon with flamingoes flying over it at which he was shooting, while Michael, who was very small, had a flamingo with lagoons flying over it." --Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

A little fiddling tonight to add the deflector. Creating that grid and getting the slight curve added to it took way longer than expected. However, I'm still loving how Blender handles shaders and lights now.

A little fiddling tonight to add the deflector. Creating that grid and getting the slight curve added to it took way longer than expected. However, I'm still loving how Blender handles shaders and lights now.

Deflector looks great. What cool lines this design has.

Yeah, Blender has improved BUNCHES in the las two updates. Everything is easier to find and many things just work better. Like Booleans. Oh, man has boolean cuts been made soooo much better...

"Of course the Neverlands vary a great deal. John's, for instance, had a lagoon with flamingoes flying over it at which he was shooting, while Michael, who was very small, had a flamingo with lagoons flying over it." --Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie